I did homework on the bus in the morning before class, or in other classes, but never at home. I hated spending 8-9 hours at school, plus bus time, and then 1-2

I did homework on the bus in the morning before class, or in other classes, but never at home. I hated spending 8-9 hours at school, plus bus time, and then 1-2 hours at home doing even more work, it seemed ridiculous. I sometimes enjoyed the material, in particular reading, almost regardless of subject. I hated busywork, like "answer these questions about the reading"--which is the equivalent of a test. Just ask me on the test! Not to mention people can copy that, and those who don't read WILL copy it. Those who do read have no need to (assuming reading comprehension). It's not a measure of anything. The memorization of facts came easily to me and I didn't mind them because it often turned my expected-1-hour assignment into a ten minute assignment. For instance, in a vocabulary book I could read each word, and between being well-read and having a good memory, it was very easy to fill in all the blanks. My worst experiences were on some larger projects. One required that I typed & printed a report, before computers were ubiquitous. I had no access, was afraid to ask my dad to take me to a library, and had no friends with computers. I got docked a letter grade for my lack of access, which my teacher attributed more to laziness. I don't entirely blame him--most kids aren't scared to ask their parents for things. Similarly, science projects were no fun because they generally require either some investment or some creative thinking, often on the part of parents. My dad was pissed to buy the folding cardboard display, I could not ask for say, lumber and tools. One time I was supposed to build a "one-string canned bean guitar"---lumber, can, fishing line, etc. Mine was absolutely awful and I was mortified to bring it into class--and as expected I caught a lot of teasing for it. Anyway, not really the fault of the school, but bad experiences nonetheless. If I were implementing a homework policy I think I would make it optional. It can be part of your grade or not--you can choose to have only tests / projects / labs / etc in your grade. If not optional, then not part of the grade. In a typical college model there is no homework, and in my high school days, homework was just equivalent to padding grades...weighted the tests less, but everyone expected to get 100% or thereabouts on their homework, if they put in the effort to actually do it. I think your responses here will be skewed towards those who enjoy learning for learning's sake, and that's something to account for. Everyone hates homework & busywork, but for this crowd it probably wasn't necessary. I'd argue that for some students it is, but I'd also personally argue that we should refocus those students into something more practical, like vocational programs.